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A History of World War 2 World War 2 was a very interest time period, and there were a lot of different factors that helped to contribute to the war. Many different nations got involved in this war, with each of them choosing a different side, this led to many rivalries. It also caused hard feelings between many nations, because before the war they may have had a close friendship between the countries, but after the war started that friendship ceased to exist because of the strain of war. There were many important details in World War 2, that helped to create what it became, and I’m going to discuss some of those details. Within World War 2, many different things occurred, such as concentration camps, and those issues are very important to many today, even though this event happened so many years ago. That is why I’m going to discuss the historical key points during World War 2, and explain why they were important. The beginning of World War 2 did not happen immediately as some might think, but it took time to develop. It all began when Hitler withdrew himself from the League of Nations in the year 1933, he did not believe the League would come after him because of their previous actions with Japan. That is why he left them and began to arm his country heavily with weapons and other things; in the meanwhile he was forming deals with many different nations for various things. The power of the League took another hit when Mussolini was able to get away with his attack on Ethiopia, and was supplied by US oil companies. After noting the weakness exhibited by the League, Hitler decided to unite Germany with Austria, and by doing so he was able to get the support of both France and Britain to gain the land of Czechoslovakia. This did not bode well for Czechoslovakia, and they were eventually captured and Germany destroyed them and took control. These events lead up to Hitler trying to gain more control of the lands that were close to his, so he could have even more power. This came to a head when he desired to attain Poland, and he was successful in this. They were only able to do this by making secret arrangements with Stalin, and arranging a nonaggression policy with him in secret. By doing that he helped to ensure that he would not be attacked by the Soviet, and could focus his entire forces on Poland. He took Poland over quickly while the Soviet Union took over Eastern Poland, thus leaving Poland with nothing. This was the beginning of the war that would change the world, and many things in it. Because Hitler’s greed for land could not be satisfied, his need for power caused many people to enter into this war and have their life taken away, simply to gain power. This is a very sad event, but happens every day because of men’s thirst for power. Now that the war had started, Hitler wasted little time in getting his plan into action. He started off by invading Denmark and Norway, thus giving him access to British naval forces. Germany struck fast against France, and was able to overtake them quickly, without much resistance. By gaining control of France, Germany was just one step closer to world domination; however Britain proved to be a greater enemy. Britain was able to withstand Germany’s lightning fast first attacks, and was able to repel them and defend them. This was partly due to the fact that there was a new prime minister for Britain and his name was Winston Churchill. Winston Churchill was a very smart and up building man, who was able to gain the support of his country in this war, and helped to relieve some of their worries about the ongoing war. By doing this he gained morale, and helped to boost the morale of his soldiers as well, thus enabling them to be successful in their defense of their land. This was also very effective in their air defense, because their air defense is what saved them in the end. By beating Germany in the air, they were able to prove that Germany was not untouchable, and they could be defeated. After noticing the many conquests Germany was having, and was being victorious in, other members of the Axis decided to start invading other countries. Italian forces lead by Mussolini invaded Libya and attacked British troops there, however they were not successful in this fight and it proved to be worthless to Italy. However, Hitler assisted them with a commander and some troops, and with Germany’s help Italy was able to overtake Egypt, driving the British back. This support by Germany would prove to be of great assistance to the other countries of the Axis, because without Germany’s military support and leadership, Italy would have gone nowhere fast. Italy was not a very strong military nation, and it was shown to be very true during World War 2. These were not the only nations that were captured during this period, Yugoslavia and Greece were captured and they also forced two other nations to join their cause. These nations being Hungary and Romania, Romania was a very important part of the axis as well, since they supplied a majority of the oil to everyone. Shortly thereafter, the Axis’s focus turned to Russia, and it was there that many large battles took place. During his planning before the war started, Hitler had always planned to destroy the Soviet Union, and now he saw it was capable with his large army. When Hitler started to invade Russia, he started what was known as Operation Barbarossa. This operation was to be a fast and quick strike to Russia, to take them out as quick as possible. Because, he knew that if he let the war drag on with Russia, the harsh winters would come and make it impossible for him to overtake them. Hitler decided to attack the Soviet Union then because he saw them in a weakened military position. This weak military position of the Soviet Union was brought on by poor judgments by Joseph Stalin. Joseph Stalin was erroneous in the way he handled his senior officers, as well as his decisions not to mobilize military forces to his western border to protect it. Because of these conditions, Hitler saw it as easy prey, and decided to act. Germany’s attack on Russia was not completely successful and they did not completely overtake Russia. However, they did manage to occupy a large portion of Russia; through their use of fast military strikes they were able to win many battles in Russia. However, as they drew closer to Moscow, their efforts came to a halt. Due to the harsh winter conditions, and the many trenches the Russian civilians had dug, German soldiers came to a standstill. German soldiers were being attacked by quick strikes by Russian strike forces, and their supply lines were being cut off by the frigid winter conditions. All of this together helped to prevent the German’s from completely overtaking Russia. Germany’s attack on Russia had many consequences for Germany, and these consequences might have been the main reason that Germany lost the war. During this time, Hitler’s implemented policies that would lead to the racial purification of the nations under his command. These policies called for the extermination of those who did not believe like he did, and called for the execution of Jews. This was a very horrible time in history, because this was discrimination at its worst. All of these Jews and other various people were persecuted for their differences in beliefs. These people were killed, tortured, starved, experimented on, and various other things that were just inhumane. Because of Hitler’s attitude towards these things, he caused millions of people to die, because he thought they were less than him because of their racial backgrounds. Such pure hatred from a human being in a position of power will only lead to bad results such as this. Thankfully though, they set an example for us to follow today, and for us to heed the results that occurred from the pure hatred that Hitler exhibited. If many people would just stop and look at what happened when such discrimination occurred because of racial differences, they might rethink their ways of thinking. The Asian countries were involved in World War 2 as well, and they had many major battles that were extremely important to the war, and had a major effect on it. Two of the important countries that were involved were China and Japan. These two countries were at war with each other since 1937, and there was great tension between the two of them. Eventually the tension boiled over, and the Japanese decided to invade China and its cities. Japan decided to first invade one of China’s largest cities Nanjing, and this invasion was a very cruel ordeal. Japan did not just invade Nanjing, but they tortured and killed thousands of its inhabitants in very sadistic ways. Many innocent civilians were killed in cruel ways that were similar to the way that Germany handled the Jews. Japan’s invasion of China was very successful and they were able to obtain a large amount of China’s large cities, and its land. They were able to crush the Chinese government, and helped to build their own forces in these far off lands. It was during this time that Chinese’s nationalist government began to grow weak due to its lack of control during this time, and this was the opening that communism needed to sneak into China. Japan also played a large role in attack the United States, many of us know of one major battle known as Pearl Harbor. Japan became an ally to the axis, and also was neutral with the Russians due to a treaty that was signed. When Japan allied itself with the Axis, this caused the nations that were at war with the axis to cease their supplies from being sent to Japan, and this was a very bad thing for Japan. Japan counted on the United States and Britain for their oil, and without the oil from those two countries Japan would soon run out. That is why Japan decided to bomb Pearl Harbor, in order to take out the United States naval forces, in order for them to take control of land that was rich with oil deposits. This surprise attack against the United States shocked many people, and by doing suck a quick strike Japan hoped to push the United States further into isolation and hoped they would not join the war efforts. By doing this however they had the opposite effect, and they helped propel the United States into the war with full force. The United States then proceeded to declare war on Japan and soon after Germany, and Italy. America played a pivotal part in World War 2, and not just in military force, but also in the many different things that they supplied. When America entered the war, it was not long after that the favor started to shift slightly towards the side of the Allies. There were a few major battles that took place that helped a few different countries to overcome their enemy and help provide a good start for their countries to win the overall war. The first of these main battles was the battle in Midway, where America defeated Japan in a naval battle and did great damage to Japan’s naval fleet. This left Japan crippled in the navy department, and was a crucial part of the turning of the tide for the Allies. The next important battle that occurred was the battle in North Africa, where the British forces along with America was able to liberate parts of North Africa that had come under the command of the Axis countries. By doing this, they were able to gain an area where they could set up bases and attack Italy from the south. The last important battle that helped to shift the favor of war was the battle in Russia. Russia was able to win the battle at Stalingrad and drive the Germans back into a defensive position instead of their usual offensive position. After these three major battles, the Axis countries started to lose more and more battles, and began their downward spiral. It was not soon after the battle in North Africa, that the Allies started to make their way up Italy and eventually capturing Rome. During this time, Russia was also fighting valiantly taking back some of their major cities that had been captured by Germany. After some time thought, the Allies finally decided to take back France, and by doing this they were able to rid the country of the Nazi party that had been in control for quite a while. Thus by liberating France, they were one step closer to ending this horrible war. The Russian armies were also being very active in their role, and were able to take back a great deal of their land, and even though the Germans battled hard, they did not succeed in holding this land. It was during these attacks by the Allies that they were able to drive Germany back into Belgium, where they had originally attacked France from. It was here that Germany mounted its last stand, and put there all into the last chance they had to salvage the war. This battle was called the Battle of the Bulge and with the help of America, the Allies managed to be victorious in this battle, despite Germany’s best efforts. After winning this fight, the Axis members felt defeated, and it was not soon after that both Mussolini and Hitler died. This left only nation, Japan, and they too were soon to fall. Japan put up a good fight, and were very stubborn in their surrendering. However, after the atomic bombs were dropped on both Nagasaki, and Hiroshima, the Japanese emperor surrendered, announcing that if the war were to continue, it might mean the end of civilization as we know it. Thus, after winning these major battles, the Allies were able to announce their victory, and to begin the postwar negotiations between the countries to ensure that this type war would never happen again. Many countries were worried that the Soviet Union would take up too much of the space that Germany had left, however they tried to set up some boundaries to ensure that would not happen. After everything was over with and done, World War 2 had been the most bloodiest terrible war that anyone had ever seen before, and it wreaked havoc on millions of people’s lives. Because of men’s greed for power, millions of innocent civilians had died cruel deaths, and this war could have been stopped if people had taken the time early on to identify and fix the problem. However, because of some countries lack of speed to respond to the problems, it escalated in a full scale war that would rock everyone to the core. It was also just not the fault of one country, but many different countries such as Japan and Italy were also to blame for the results that occurred. Hitler and Mussolini were very evil men, who were set in their ways and saw their ideals as the only ones, and that everyone should follow them. This can be a very good example for us today, and we should all take heed of the way these men acted and discriminated because of their beliefs. If everyone would take a second to realize what these two men did, and then compare it to what some people do nowadays we would see that it is similar. In our day and time we see many people discriminated against for the same reasons that the Jews were discriminated against in the Hitler era. This should make anyone try to change their ways, because acting that way is simply not acceptable. In the end, World War 2 was a very horrible war that could have been stopped, but since it was not, we should do our best to learn from our mistakes and not recreate them.